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Sergeant Will Be Charged With 17 Murders in Afghan Massacre

Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales will be charged with the murder of 17 Afghans. Photo: Wikimedia

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Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales will be formally charged with the murder of 17 Afghans on Friday, the worst single U.S. atrocity in the decade-long war. This is not Bales' first time before a judge.

The March 11 massacre in Panjwei was originally thought to have killed 16 Afghan civilians – mostly women and children. Another appears to have died from injuries he or she sustained in the assault.

Bales was taken from Afghanistan over a week ago despite loud calls from Afghan politicians to prosecute him in accordance with local law. That was never going to happen. But Bales' departure from Afghan justice is likely to hang over the U.S.-Afghan negotiations for long-term basing rights, which will determine the legal vulnerabilities for a residual U.S. force.

Reportedly, Bales, who was on his fourth combat tour, had a history of violent or abusive episodes. The Associated Press reports that in 2008, Bales hit on a woman outside a Takoma, Washington bowling alley by putting her hand to his crotch, and then punched and kicked her boyfriend. He wasn't charged in that incident, but a sheriff's deputy described him as "extremely intoxicated."

Alcohol is suspected of playing a role in the massacre. Bales also reportedly sustained a brain injury. Yet thousands of U.S. troops have served multiple combat tours and sustained debilitating brain injuries without turning their weapons on women and children.